I worked at a public pool in the San Francisco Bay area for a summer. That place was packed nearly every day. The water during the summer would test out at about .5-.7% uric acid. Pretty impressive for an Olympic size pool. We were supposed to flush it to under .1% with fresh water, but that never happened. Would have cost the county a fortune.

I routinely consume bromine or chlorine (depending on if I'm going in a pool or hot tub), then take pH+ or pH- to properly balance everything out. That way I can take a few whizzes in the pool or spa without feeling guilty about it.

Everyone looks at me weird when I'm peeing into the little water property test vials, but once I show them everything is properly balanced out, they're cool with it. I can spend hours without having to excuse myself to the restroom.

So when natural bodily secretions (urine and sweat, and probably also sebum) come in contact with one of the most highly reactive and corrosive chemicals there is (chlorine) creates other nasty chemicals (cyanogen chloride and trichloramine, namely) in an environment that's intended for human recreational use.

bughunter:So when natural bodily secretions (urine and sweat, and probably also sebum) come in contact with one of the most highly reactive and corrosive chemicals there is (chlorine) creates other nasty chemicals (cyanogen chloride and trichloramine, namely) in an environment that's intended for human recreational use.

Not that I am white knighting the practice of peeing in the pool or in any way excusing it, but seriously... putting an eye dropper of uric acid into a test tube of pool water hardly represents the ratio of pee to chlorinated water present in even the most populated public pools.

bughunter:So when natural bodily secretions (urine and sweat, and probably also sebum) come in contact with one of the most highly reactive and corrosive chemicals there is (chlorine) creates other nasty chemicals (cyanogen chloride and trichloramine, namely) in an environment that's intended for human recreational use.

But it's the pee that's at fault.

Right.

Well, it's dumber than that, even... they are testing PURE chemicals, but urine is 95% water (according to Wikipeedia), so 8~20oz of pee is somewhere around an ounce of uric acid, added to a public pool of 20,000 gallons or more.

Basically, their testing methodology is all messed up. It assumes 1) Urine is basically pure uric acid, 2) the typical human is able to pee gallon, and 3) a LOT of people are peeing in the pools.

Cymbal:bughunter: So when natural bodily secretions (urine and sweat, and probably also sebum) come in contact with one of the most highly reactive and corrosive chemicals there is (chlorine) creates other nasty chemicals (cyanogen chloride and trichloramine, namely) in an environment that's intended for human recreational use.

This really got me thinking about a pond I've gone swimming in while on vacation. The kids and I had gotten into swimming at the Y and we became fairly good swimmers. We had no problem with breathing and endurance, but I noticed I couldn't breath right and struggled going far in the pond at the campgrounds we went to. It always made me wondered why, and the pond is treated to keep the water plants down and still have fish. I now wonder if the treatment and fish urine is why I struggled so much.

I don't think I'll be swimming in that pond anymore, the fish have also gotten more bitey. It takes the fun out of just goofing around in the shallow waters when it feels like bug bites.

When I was a kid, for a number of years my family had a membership to a rec center. There was a big pool that tons of us kids would use, which had a shallow section for the youngest children, and there was a separate lap swimming pool for adults. I tried out the lap pool a few times as a teenager - the smell around it was much different, and I assume it was because they wouldn't have had to shock the pool as often. Fewer people used it, the water was cooler, and there were no children with small bladders.

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it disturbing that they'd have to target this article toward adults?

Cymbal:bughunter: So when natural bodily secretions (urine and sweat, and probably also sebum) come in contact with one of the most highly reactive and corrosive chemicals there is (chlorine) creates other nasty chemicals (cyanogen chloride and trichloramine, namely) in an environment that's intended for human recreational use.